Louisa Centre Gun Club

actively promoting rifle shooting

Louisa Centre Gun Club - actively promoting rifle shooting

If you live in the County Durham area and are interested in the sport of Target Rifle Shooting you have come to the right site.

Our club, which started life as the Stanley Gun Club over 40 years ago, is based in Stanley at The Louisa Centre, where we have operated for the last 30 years. We work closely with the Management of this Leisure Centre and exist harmoniously alongside all of the other clubs and associations within the centre.

The club aims to actively promote and develop the sport of Target Rifle Shooting within the community. We are primarily a recreational club, but we encourage and coach members to improve their performance and to take part in national competitions. We have several members who regularly compete at Bisley. We have access to a 6-lane 25m indoor rifle range within The Louisa Centre. This is available to our members on two evenings per week, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 7-9pm. when they can use small calibre rifles and black powder pistols. We also have access to full-bore outdoor range facilities at the Ponteland & Otterburn ranges throughout most months of the year.

We have a thriving membership, across all ages and genders, but we welcome and encourage new members. We also have a growing junior membership and seek to encourage young people, between the ages 14-18 years, to engage in this pursuit within a totally supervised, safe and controlled environment. We are also able to provide disabled facilities within The Louisa Centre, ensuring that any shooter with a disability is able to actively pursue their sport.

We are fully registered with all of the appropriate and official organisations and enjoy an excellent working relationship with our local Police Firearms Department.

Club facilities

We offer members the opportunity to shoot at both our indoor, gallery type range, and at the three outdoor ranges we have access to.

The indoor range is approved for small-bore rifles, pistol calibre carbines and black powder pistols. In addition there is a club room where refreshments are available.

Our outdoor ranges are used for full-bore, larger calibre rifles.

Gallery rifle shooting has become more popular since cartridge-firing pistols were sadly banned in 1996. This takes place on Wednesday and Friday evenings from 7pm-9pm. We offer bench-rest or standing shooting on four lanes, plus a further 2 lanes for prone shooting. We run club competitions regularly which we encourage all members to participate in, however, the choice is always their's.

The full-bore ranges are 'military' or MOD type and offer a variety of distances from 100yds to 1000yds. We usually book these ranges for full days once per month (Saturday or Sunday), from February through to November. We also run 'full-bore' competitions. Our full-bore shoots are open to non-members and guests also.

Our club has a selection of club rifles for use by members if necessary. Ranging from single shot .22 target rifles and semi-automatics up to 7.62mm bolt-actions rifles. The small .22 rifles provide inexpensive shooting and are very popular. Our members use a vast variety of their own firearms, from modern day rifles to those dating back to the 1st WW military type and American Civil War.

Firearms safety is foremost in all club activities. We provide all members with tuition and guidance in firearms handling and safety, particularly our novice and junior members.